Identifying a route configured to travel through multiple points of interest

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for identifying a route that is configured to travel through multiple points of interest includes receiving a query that includes an origin location, a destination location, and at least a first point of interest and a second point of interest. The method also includes identifying a perimeter that surrounds the received origin and destination locations in response to the query. The perimeter is then used to identify a set of locations for each of the first and second points of interest.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/617,874, filed Dec. 29, 2006 and entitled “Identifying A Route Configured To Travel Through Multiple Points Of Interest.” This application also claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/917,594, filed on May 11, 2007, and entitled “Identifying A Route Configured To Travel Through Multiple Points Of Interest.” The entire content of the prior applications is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document relates to identifying a route configured to travel through multiple points of interest.

BACKGROUND

A traveler may submit to a host a mapping query to request mapping information, such as a suggested route between an origin location and a destination location or driving directions to a destination location from an origin location.

SUMMARY

Implementations of the described techniques may include hardware, a method or process, or computer software on a computer-accessible medium.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process a host may use to identify an advanced route between an origin location and a destination location, such that the advanced route includes a location for each of user-identified multiple points of interest.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary user interface provided to a user of a client device wishing to visit multiple points of interest along a route from an origin location to a destination location.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary user interface for entering information about a particular stop.

FIG. 3 illustrates a map that is used to identify a set of locations corresponding to each of user-identified multiple points of interest.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process a host may use to identify the elliptical perimeter around the preliminary route illustrated by FIG. 3.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary table that a host may use to identify an advanced route having a minimized travel commitment.

FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary table in which the host rearranges the locations included in the advanced route identified in FIG. 5A to reduce the travel commitment associated with the advanced route.

FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate an exemplary process and an exemplary table a host may use to identify the most efficient route associated with selected locations for multiple points of interest.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate an exemplary process and an exemplary table a host may use to identify an advanced route having the “least” travel commitment.

FIG. 8A illustrates an exemplary process a host may use to enable a user to identify an advanced route based on user-selected locations for the multiple points of interest.

FIG. 8B illustrates an exemplary process a host may use for applying more weight to user-selected locations for the multiple points of interest.

FIGS. 9A-9B illustrate exemplary user interfaces each displaying multiple routes responsive to a search query, and thus enabling the user to select from among the displayed multiple routes.

FIG. 10 illustrates another exemplary process that a host uses to identify an advanced route between an origin location and a destination location.

FIG. 11 illustrates an elliptical perimeter that a host uses to search for potential locations for each of user-defined multiple points of interest.

FIG. 12 illustrates a process the host uses to identify the elliptical perimeter illustrated in FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary process a host uses to select a single location for each of user-identified multiple points of interest.

FIG. 14 illustrates a communication system, enabling a host to solicit from a client device a search query and to generate a response to the search query.

FIGS. 15A-15B illustrate an exemplary process that a host uses to compare different location from selected categories of points of interest based upon the travel commitments between a selected origin and destination based on their proximity to other points of interest as opposed to the preliminary route.

FIGS. 16A-16B illustrate an exemplary process that a host uses to compare the routes used to visit multiple intervening locations from selected categories of points of interest based upon the travel commitments between a selected origin and destination.

FIGS. 17A-17B-17C illustrate an exemplary map between an origin and destination with intervening points of interest and various routes the host may use to determine the optimal route.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A user of a client device may wish to travel from an origin location to a destination location, and the user may wish to visit multiple points of interest along the way. For example, the user may wish to visit a convenient automated teller machine (“ATM”), a grocery store, a gas station, and a dry cleaner along a commuting route or a planned vacation route. As such, the user may benefit from an advanced route that includes and thus encourages travel through a convenient location for each of the user-identified multiple points of interest. Accordingly, techniques are provided for generating such an advanced route that includes a location for each of the user-identified multiple points of interest. In one implementation, the techniques described in this application enable a host to generate the advanced route without excessive computational delay.

An exemplary process 100 of FIG. 1 may be used by a host to identify an advanced route between an origin location and a destination location, such that the advanced route includes and thus encourages travel through a location for each of user-identified multiple points of interest. Below, process 100 is described with brief reference to other illustrative figures, each of which are later described separately. Process 100 begins by providing a client device with access to the host (110). Providing the client device access to the host may include providing the client device with a user interface, such as that of FIGS. 2A and 2B, for submitting a search query to the host.

The host receives the search query, including an origin location, a destination location, and an indication of multiple points of interest (120). The multiple points of interest may include intermediary services, such as banking services, dry cleaning services, flower shop services, grocery store services, and/or gas stations services. The host may receive the search query via, for example, a request and/or message from the client device.

In response to the search query, the host identifies a preliminary route between the origin location and the destination location (130). FIG. 3 illustrates a preliminary route 310 the host may identify between the origin location and the destination location. The host identifies a perimeter around the preliminary route (140). The host may use an exemplary process 400 described with respect to FIG. 4 to identify the perimeter around the preliminary route. As shown in FIG. 3, the perimeter 320 includes an elliptical shape and is formed around the preliminary route 310. The host identifies, within the elliptical perimeter, a set of locations corresponding to each of the received multiple points of interest (150). The set of locations may include a set of geographic locations or addresses. Alternatively or additionally, the set of locations may include a set of zip codes, street addresses and/or facility names.

In one example and as shown in FIG. 3, where the multiple points of interest include a gas station, a grocery store, and a restaurant, the host identifies a set of locations within the elliptical route 320 that correspond to the gas station, a set of locations corresponding to the grocery store, and a set of locations corresponding to the restaurant. The host selects, from the set of locations identified, a location corresponding to each of the user-identified multiple points of interest for which the set of locations was identified (160). In keeping with the example of FIG. 3, the host selects, from the set of locations identified, a location for the gas station, a location for the grocery store, and a location for the restaurant, for example, using tables and processes described with respect to FIGS. 5A-5B and 6A-6B. Based on this selection, the host identifies an advanced route between the origin location and the destination location, where the advanced route includes and thus encourages travel through the selected location for each of the user-identified multiple points of interest (170). Again keeping with the example of FIG. 3, process 100 thus resolves an advanced route that includes a location for the gas station, the grocery store, and the restaurant.

More specifically, FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary user interface (“UI”) 200A provided to a user of a client device, wishing to visit multiple points of interest along a route from an origin location to a destination location. The UI 200A may be displayed, for example, on an in-vehicle navigation system, a mobile device, such as a cellular phone or PDA, or other devices, such as a personal computer.

The UI 200A includes an origin selection portion 210, a destination selection portion 220, a points of interest selection portion 230, an identify stops portion 240, and a directions/maps selection portion 250. The origin selection portion 210 enables the host to solicit or otherwise receive an origin or a starting location. The origin selection portion 210 includes fields enabling specification of an address or an intersection, a city, a state, and a zip code. The destination selection portion 220 enables the host to solicit or otherwise receive a destination location. The destination selection portion 220 includes fields enabling specification of a destination name, an address or an intersection, a city, a state, and a zip code.

The UI 200A also includes the points of interest selection portion 230. The points of interest selection portion 230 enables the host to solicit or otherwise receive multiple points of interest that the user wishes to visit along a route between the origin location and the destination location. The points of interest selection portion 230 includes a user selectable option for identifying each of the multiple points of interest. The multiple points of interest may include banking services, restaurant services, flower shop services, and/or “other” services or places, such as gas stations, shopping centers, and/or grocery stores. In one implementation, shown in FIG. 2A, the user may communicate to the host a desired point of interest by selecting a box corresponding to that point of interest.

A representation of a point of interest in UI 200A may be interactive. For example, the user may interact with the point of interest by selecting the point of interest in the UI 200A (e.g., double clicking on the point of interest using, for example, a mouse). Selecting the point of interest may launch another UI, enabling the user to provide additional information regarding the point of interest to the host. For instance, selecting “banking services” may launch another UI, enabling the user to identify the type of banking services in which the user is interested (e.g., a type of branch and/or ATM services).

The UI 200A also includes the identify stops portion 240. The identify stops portion 240 enables the host to solicit or otherwise identify particular stops along the route. When the user selects the identify stops portion 240, a UI for entering information about a particular stop (e.g., UI 240 of FIG. 2B) is displayed. For example, the identify stops portion 240 may enable the user to identify an address of the particular stops. Alternatively or additionally, the identify stops portion 240 may enable the user to specify a name of a particular stop and/or geographical area in which particular stop is located. For example, the identify stops portion 240 may enable the user to specify a favorite banking service in a particular area (e.g. Bank of America in the NW quadrant of Washington D.C.). Similarly, the identify stops portion 240 may enable the user to specify a name of a particular restaurant in which the user is interested.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary UI 240 for entering information about a particular stop. The UI 240 includes a first stop selection portion 240A and “other” stops selection portion 240B. The first stop selection portion 240A includes fields enabling specification of a destination name, an address or an intersection, a city, a state, a zip code, and a category name. The category name field indicates the category or type of stop, such as gas, cash, or restaurant. The “other” stops selection portion 240B enables the user to provide additional particular stops to the host.

Referring again to FIG. 2A, the UI 200A also includes the directions/maps selection portion 250. The directions/maps selection portion 250 enables the user to receive directions/maps between the origin location and the destination location through the location associated with the user-identified multiple points of interest.

FIG. 3 illustrates a map 300 that is used to identify a set of locations corresponding to each of the user-identified multiple points of interest. The map 300 includes an origin location, a destination location, and a preliminary route 310 between the origin location and the destination location. The map 300 also includes a perimeter 320 that has an elliptical shape and that is formed around the preliminary route 310. The elliptical perimeter 320 is used to identify a set of locations corresponding to each of the received multiple points of interest. Using the elliptical perimeter 320 to identify a set of locations corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest may increase the efficiency in identifying an advanced route traveling through the user-identified multiple points of interest.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process 400 a host may use to identify or otherwise calculate the elliptical perimeter 320 around the preliminary route 310 illustrated by FIG. 3. The process 400 illustrates in more detail the blocks 130, 140, and 150 associated with the process 100 described above with respect to FIG. 1. Initially, the host identifies the preliminary route 310 between the origin location and the destination location (410). The host may identify the preliminary route 310 by referencing an internal server, which in turn references roads, coupling the origin location to the destination location. Alternatively, the host may identify the preliminary route 310 by referencing an external server, such as a web map server (e.g., Mapquest™) that employs one or more geocoding servers, mapping servers, and/or routing servers to generate the preliminary route 310. Upon identification of the preliminary route 310, the host may identify locations (e.g., latitude/longitude coordinates) that are at a certain distance “d” from points along the preliminary route 310 (or map tiles/sectors corresponding thereto) (420). In one implementation, the host selects the distance “d.” In another implementation, the user selects the distance “d.” Once the locations at the distance “d” along the preliminary route 310 are identified, the host connects these locations (as presented by broken lines in FIG. 3) to form a first perimeter 320 around the preliminary route 310, which may include an elliptical shape as shown in FIG. 3 (430).

The host uses the elliptical perimeter 320 to identify a subset from among the universe of locations otherwise corresponding to each of the user-identified multiple points of interest. The host first determines whether the elliptical perimeter 320 includes at least one location for each of the user-identified multiple points of interest (440). If so (e.g., all of the user-identified multiple points of interest are represented within the elliptical perimeter 320, the host identifies, within the elliptical perimeter 320), a set of locations for each of the user-identified multiple points of interest (460). For example and referring again to FIG. 3, when the search query includes identifying a gas station, a grocery store, and a restaurant along the route, the host may identify within the elliptical perimeter 320 a set of locations for the gas station, a set of locations for the grocery store, and a set of locations for the restaurant. As shown in FIG. 3, the set of locations for the gas station includes three different locations for a “Brand” gas station; the set of locations for the restaurant includes three different locations for McDonald's™; and the set of locations for the grocery store includes three different locations for Safeway™.

If the host fails to identify, within the elliptical perimeter 320, a location associated with at least one of the multiple points of interest, the host calculates a second perimeter (450). The second perimeter may include an elliptical shape and may be calculated in the same manner as the elliptical perimeter 320, however, the second perimeter may include a larger distance “d” from the points along the preliminary route 310. As such, the second perimeter may be larger than the elliptical perimeter 320 and may surround the elliptical perimeter 320. Upon calculating the second perimeter, the host again determines whether all of the user-identified multiple points of interest are represented within the second perimeter (440). If so, the host identifies, within the second perimeter, a set of locations for at least one of the multiple points of interest (460).

The host selects, from each set of locations identified, a location corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest for which the set of locations was identified. The host uses the selected locations to identify an advanced route that includes and thus encourage travel through the selected location for the multiple points of interest. In one example and as described below with respect to FIGS. 5A-5B, the host identifies multiple advanced routes by selecting, from each set of locations, multiple locations corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest. The host calculates the travel commitment that includes travel time and/or travel distance for each of the multiple advanced routes and selects the advance route for which the travel commitment is minimized.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary table 500A that a host may use to identify an advanced route having a minimized travel commitment. Table 500A includes type of interest column 510, closest choices column 520, next closest choices column 530, and next closest choices column 540. The type of interest column 510 identifies the type of interest, which includes categories for a gas station, a restaurant, and a grocery store. The closest choices column 520, the next closest choices column 530, and the next closest choices column 540 each represent different advanced routes that include a location corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest. The location includes an address and a travel distance of the type of interest from the preliminary route 310.

Table 500A also includes a travel time row 550 and a travel distance row 560. The travel time row 550 identifies the travel time for the advanced route in the closest choices column 520, the next closest choices column 530, and the next closest choices column 540. The travel distance row 560 identifies the travel distance for the advanced route in the closest choices column 520, the next closest choices column 530, and the next closest choices column 540. The host may be configured to use the travel time row 550 and/or the travel distance row 560 to identify an advanced route having the minimized travel commitment. As shown in FIG. 5A, the advanced route having the minimized travel commitment appears in the closest choices column 520.

In one implementation, the closest choices column 520, the next closest choices column 530, and the next closest choices column 540 may represent a set of locations. For example, the closest choices column 520 may represent a first set of locations. The next closest choices column 530 may represent a second set of locations. And, the next closest choices column 530 may represent a third set of locations. Each set of locations includes at least one location for each of the types of interest. The host may rearrange the order in which the locations within each set of locations are visited to determine whether the travel commitment may be further reduced. FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary table 500B, representing the host rearrangement of the locations within the first set, the second set, and the third set of locations. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the host rearranges the locations within the first set such that the McDonald's™ at 555 Tuckerman Lane, Potomac, Md. is visited first, the Bp™ gas station at 1210 Seven Lock Rd., Potomac, Md. is visited second, and the Safeway™ at 1213 Seven Lock Rd., Potomac, Md. is visited third. The host may continue this process for each set of location or a selected set of locations to identity the most efficient route within each set of locations or the selected set of locations in table 500A. In either case, as the host rearranges the locations within the set of locations, the travel time and the travel distance associated with the advanced route including the rearranged locations may change. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the travel time and the travel distance associated with the advanced routes identified in table 500B is less than the travel time and the travel distance associated with the advanced routes identified in table 500A.

Below, FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate an exemplary process 600A and an exemplary table 600B that a host uses to identify the most efficient route for a selected set of locations in table 500A, and FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate an exemplary process 700A and an exemplary table 700B that a host may use to identify the most efficient route within each set of locations identified in table 500A.

FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary process 600A a host may use to identify the most efficient route within a selected set of locations. The process 600A illustrates in more detail the blocks 160 and 170 associated with the process 100 described above with respect to FIG. 1. Initially, the host selects a set of locations that includes at least one location for each of the multiple points of interest (610). For example, the host may select the first set of locations (e.g., the closest choices column 520 of FIG. 5A) resulting in the minimized travel commitment. The host rearranges the order of the locations within the selected set of locations to identify alternative routes traveling through those locations (620). The host calculates a travel time and/or a travel distance for each of the identified alternative routes (630) and identifies a route having a minimum travel time and/or travel distance among the identified alternative routes (640). To identify a route having the minimum travel time and/or travel distance, the host may use an exemplary table 600B, shown in FIG. 6B. In table 600B, the host identifies the alternative routes within the selected set of locations (e.g., the closes choices column 520 of FIG. 5A) and also identifies the travel time and the travel distance corresponding to each of the alternative routes.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the host rearranges the order in which locations within the first set (e.g., the closest choices column 520 of FIG. 5A) are visited and identifies three alternative routes in addition to the route shown in the closest choices column 520. The three alternative routes include a first route 660, a second route 670, and a third route 680. Each of the alternative routes 660, 670, and 680 include a different order in which the location for the each of the multiple points of interest is visited. For example, in the first route 660, the location for the restaurant is visited first, the location for the gas station is visited second, and the location for the grocery store is visited third. Similarly, in the second route 670, the location for the restaurant is visited first, the location for the grocery store is visited second, and the location for the gas station is visited third.

Table 600B also includes a travel time row 690A and a travel distance row 690B. The travel time row 690A includes a travel time for each of the alternative routes. The travel distance row 690B includes a travel distance for each of the alternative routes. The host compares the travel time and/or the travel distance for each of the four alternative routes (e.g., a route identified in closest choices column 520 of FIG. 5A and the three routes identified in table 600B) to identify the route with minimum travel time and/or the travel distance. As shown, the route with the minimum travel time and/or distance includes the first route 660 with a travel time of 44 minutes and a travel distance of 24.8 miles. Once the host identifies the route having the minimum travel time and/or travel distance among the alternative routes (640), the host presents the route to the user as the most efficient route within the selected set of locations (650).

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate an exemplary process 700A and an exemplary table 700B that a host may use to identify the advanced route having the “lowest” travel time and/or the travel distance. Referring specifically to FIG. 7A, the process 700A illustrates in more detail the blocks 160 and 170 associated with the process 100 described above with respect to FIG. 1. The process 700A begins by the host rearranging, within each set of locations identified in table 500A (e.g., the closest choices column 520 and the next closest choices columns 530 and 540), the order of locations to identify alternative routes traveling through those locations (710). The host calculates, within each set of locations identified in table 500A, a travel time and/or a travel distance for each identified alternative routes (720), and identifies, within each set of locations, a most efficient route having the minimum travel time and/or travel distance among the alternative routes (730). The host may use the operation described above with respect to FIG. 6A to identify the most efficient route within each set of locations identified in table 500A. The host compares the travel time and/or the travel distance associated with the most efficient routes identified to each other (740). To perform this comparison, the host may use the exemplary table 700B that includes the travel time and the travel distance for the most efficient route within each set of locations. Table 700B includes a travel time row 740 and a distance row 750. The travel time row 740 identifies the travel time for the most efficient route within each set of locations. For example, the travel time for the most efficient route within the first set of locations is 44 minutes, within the second set of locations is 43 minutes, and within the third set of locations is 55 minutes.

The distance row 750 identifies the travel distance for the most efficient route within each set of locations. For example, the travel distance for the most efficient route within the first set of locations is 24.8 miles, within the second set of locations is 25 miles, and within the third set of locations is 30 miles. The host may use table 700B to identify and select the most efficient route with the “lowest” travel commitment, as the advanced route (750).

In one scenario, shown in FIG. 7B, one of the routes may have the shortest travel time and another route may have the shortest travel distance. For example, the most efficient route within the first set has the shortest travel distance and the most efficient route within the second set has the shortest travel time. In this scenario, the host may be configured to use the route with the shortest travel time as the advanced route. Alternatively, the host may be configured to use the route with the shortest travel distance as the advanced route.

FIG. 8A illustrates an exemplary process 800A the host uses to enable the user to identify an advanced route based on the user-selected locations for the multiple points of interest. Initially, the host presents to the user a set of locations corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest (810). In one implementation and referring again to FIG. 5A, the host may present to the user table 500A as a UI, enabling the user to select, from the set of locations, a location corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest (820). The user may select a location for each of the multiple points of interest by “clicking on,” for example, the locations appearing in the closest choices column 520, the next closest choices column 530, and/or the next closest choices column 540. For example, the user may select a location for a gas station from the closest choices column 520 by selecting the “1210 Seven Lock Rd. Potomac, Md.” icon. And, the user may select a location for the restaurant from the next closest choices column 530 by selecting the “555 Tuckerman Lane, Potomac, Md.” icon. Similarly, the user may select a location for the grocery store from the closest choices column 520 by selecting “1213 Seven Lock Rd, Potomac, Md.” icon. In response, the host identifies an advanced route based on the user-selected locations (830). The host may optionally present the advanced route to the user (840). The host also may present to the user alternatives to the user's selected route, enabling the user to compare the travel commitment of the selected route with the travel commitment of the other routes and to make an informed decision about which route the user wishes to travel. The alternatives may include substituted points of interest and/or it may rearrange an order of travel among points of interest.

Alternatively and prior to presenting the user-identified advanced route to the user (840), the host may perform a preliminary analysis on the user-identified advanced route. For example, the host may give the user-identified advanced route more weight than other alternative routes presented in the UI 500A, and the host may select the user-identified advanced route if its travel commitment is less than a threshold value. FIG. 8B illustrates an exemplary process 800B that a host uses for applying more weight to the user-identified advanced route and selecting the user-identified advanced route if its travel commitment is less than a threshold value. Initially, the host calculates a travel commitment for the advanced route (850). The host reduces the travel commitment by a certain value to identify a new travel commitment for the advanced route (860). The host determines whether the new travel commitment is less than the threshold value (870). If so, then the host presents the advanced route to the user (880). Otherwise, the host determines whether one of the alternative routes presented in the UI 500A has a travel commitment less than the travel commitment of the user-identified advanced route (890). If so, then the host presents the alternative route to the user (892). If not, then the host presents the user-selected route to the user (894).

FIG. 9A illustrates an exemplary UI 900A that displays multiple routes responsive to a search query, and that enables the user to select from among the displayed multiple routes. The UI 900A represents a message that may be presented to the user who is traveling from “1425 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20005” toward the “United States Patent and Trademark Office” (“USPTO”), and who seeks a route that enables the user to stop by “a gas station” and “a grocery store.”

As shown in FIG. 9A and described above, the UI 900A notes the origin location, the destination location, and the multiple points of interest the user has previously specified via, for example, the UI 200A. The UI 900A communicates to the user multiple routes that are responsive to the search query. The multiple routes may include, for example, a Route A and a Route B. Route A has total travel time of 45 minutes and begins at the origin location and travels first through the grocery store location and then the gas station location before reaching the destination of the USPTO.

In contrast to Route A, Route B has total travel time of 60 minutes and begins at the origin location and travels first through the gas station location and then the grocery store location before reaching the destination of the USPTO. As shown, the locations associated with the gas station and the grocery store appearing in Route B are different from the locations associated with the gas station and the grocery store appearing in Route A. The user may select either Route A or Route B by selecting the box corresponding to Route A or Route B. Upon choosing Route A or Route B, the host may provide point-to-point directions/maps to the user for Route A or Route B, accordingly. In a different implementation, the user selects both Route A and Route B to, for example, view a more detailed map associated with each before selecting either Route A or Route B. In such a scenario, the host generates another UI, such as, for example, the UI 900B illustrated by FIG. 9B to graphically illustrate the two competing routes to the user. The UI 900B includes a graphical representation of Route A and Route B. As shown, Route A passes through different locations associated with the gas station and the grocery store than Route B and appears to have less travel time and/or travel distance associated with it. Upon viewing the graphical representation of the two competing routes, the user may be able to easily make a decision regarding which route to take and upon making such determination, the user may return to UI 900 to make the user's selection.

In a slightly different scenario, the UI 900B may be configured to be interactive and the user may select the desired route by clicking on the graphical representation of Route A or Route B. Similarly and referring again to FIG. 9A, the UI 900A also may be configured to be interactive. For example, the UI 900A may enable the user to change the origin location, the destination location, and the multiple points of interest previously specified by the user. The user may select the address associated with those locations to change and/or modify them. Similarly, if the user wishes to visit a point of interest at a specific location, the user may modify the host-suggested location for the point of interest by changing the address for that point of interest.

In another implementation, unlike the process 100 shown in FIG. 1, the host identifies an advanced route traveling through each of the identified points of interest without identifying a preliminary route (130) and without identifying a perimeter around the preliminary route (140). Instead, the host identifies a perimeter around the origin location and the destination location. In particular, after receiving the origin location and the destination location from the client device, the host identifies a perimeter that surrounds the origin location and the destination location, and within the perimeter, the host identifies a set of locations associated with each of the points of interests. For example, as shown in FIG. 11 and further described below, in one implementation, the host identifies a perimeter having an elliptical shape surrounding the origin location and the destination location and identifies, within the elliptical perimeter, a set of locations for each of the points of interest. A point of interest may refer to an establishment that includes multiple locations associated therewith. For example, the point of interest may refer to any gas station and/or a brand gas station at different locations.

One example will be described to illustrate how the host may identify an advanced route traveling through a location associated each of the multiple points of interest without necessarily computing a preliminary route and forming the elliptical perimeter around the preliminary route. In this example, the user seeks to visit multiple points of interest on a route between an origin location and a destination location. The multiple points of interest include a gas station and a grocery store. The host identifies an elliptical perimeter around the origin location and the destination location, and within the elliptical perimeter, the host identifies a set of locations for the gas station and a set of locations for the grocery store. Before identifying the advanced route, the host identifies a preliminary route as a starting solution. The preliminary route begins at the origin location and is configured to pass through the first location appearing in each set before reaching the destination location. The host determines a travel commitment (e.g., travel time and/or a travel distance) for the preliminary route. Then, the host identifies another route by altering the order in which the previously selected locations for each of the multiple points of interest are visited. Additionally or alternatively, the host identifies another route by choosing from each set a different location for some or all of the multiple points of interest. The host determines the travel commitment for the new route and compares the travel commitment of the new route to the travel commitment of the preliminary route. If improvement in the travel commitment has occurred (e.g., the travel time and/or the travel distance is further minimized), the host uses the new route as the preferred route. If the improvement in the travel commitment has not occurred (e.g., the travel time and/or the travel distance is not further minimized), the host uses the preliminary route as the preferred route.

The host continues these operations for a specified number of times until all locations within each set have been considered, a time limitation has been reached, or a relative improvement is marginal. Using the time limitation may enable the host to identify an advanced route in a timely manner.

An exemplary process 1000 illustrated by FIG. 10, may be used by the host to identify an advanced route based on the above-described example. Below, process 1000 is described with brief reference to other processes illustrated by figures, each of which is later described separately. Process 1000 begins with receiving a query that includes an origin location, a destination location, and at least a first point of interest and a second point of interest (1010). The first and/or second points of interest may refer to an establishment that includes at least multiple locations associated therewith. In keeping with the above-described example, the first point of interest includes a gas station and the second point of interest includes a grocery store for purposes of this description. The host receives the query via, for example, a request and/or message from the client device through UI 200 shown in FIG. 2A.

In response to receiving the query, the host identifies a perimeter that surrounds the received origin and destination locations (1020). As shown in FIG. 11, the perimeter may include an elliptical perimeter 1110 surrounding the origin and destination locations. In another implementation, the perimeter may include other patterns such as, for example, square, rectangular, circular, and/or non-geometric patterns. The host may use an exemplary process 1200 described with respect to FIG. 12 to identify the elliptical perimeter 1110.

The host identifies, within the perimeter, a first set of potential locations that corresponds to the received first point of interest, the first set of potential locations representing a subset of all potential locations corresponding to the first point of interest (1030). The host also identifies, within the perimeter, a second set of potential locations that corresponds to the received second point of interest, the second set of potential locations representing a subset of all potential locations corresponding to the second point of interest (1040). The host selects, from the first and the second sets of potential locations, a single potential location corresponding to the received first point of interest and a single potential location corresponding to the received second point of interest (1050). In keeping with the above described example, the host selects, from each set, a location for the gas station and the grocery store, using an exemplary process 1300 described with respect to FIG. 13. The host then displays, as an advanced route, a route from the origin location to the destination location that travels through the selected single potential location corresponding to the received first point of interest and the selected single potential location corresponding to the received second point of interest (1060). Again, keeping with the above-described example, the process 1000 resolves an advanced route that includes a location for the gas station and the grocery store.

A search area 1100, such as that illustrated by FIG. 11, includes an exemplary perimeter that the host may use to search for the potential locations for each of the received first and second points of interest. The search area 1100 includes an origin location, a destination location, and an elliptical perimeter 1110. The elliptical perimeter 1110 includes a major-axis and a minor-axis, and is rotated with respect to the longitudinal axis by a rotation angle θ. The rotation angle θ may be found by a vector in latitude and longitude space from origin location to the destination location. θ=tan⁻¹(dlat/dlng)  (Equation 1)

The host may use an exemplary process 1200, such as that illustrated by FIG. 12, to identify the elliptical perimeter 1110. The exemplary process 1200 connects the origin location and the destination location via a straight line and identifying the length “L” of the straight line (1210). The host then multiplies the length “L” by a factor “N” to identify the length of the elliptical perimeter's 1110 major-axis (1220). L _(major-axis) =L*N  (Equation 2)

Where “N” includes a value greater than one to extend the ellipse beyond the origin and destination locations. In one implementation, “N” has a value 1.5. The host then equally extends each side of the straight line to form the major-axis, as shown in FIG. 11. In another implementation, to form the major-axis, the host extends each side of the straight line by a factor N (or by factors N₁ and N₂ that differ). In this implementation, the length of the elliptical perimeter's 1110 major-axis may be defined by equation 3. L _(major-axis) =L+2N  (Equation 3)

In either case, the host multiplies the length of the major-axis by a factor “I” to identify the length of the elliptical perimeter's minor-axis (1230). L _(Minor-axis) =L _(Major-axis) *I  (Equation 4)

Where “I” includes a value less than one to scale the major-axis's length. In one implementation, “I” has a value 0.5. The host then identifies the middle point of the major-axis and draws a straight line perpendicular to the major-axis through the middle point to identify the minor-axis having the length L_(Minor-axis) (1240), as shown in FIG. 11.

In one implementation, the host may check to see whether all the identified points of interest include at least one location within the elliptical perimeter 1110. If not, the host may expand the elliptical perimeter by increasing the length of the major-axis and/or minor-axis. To keep with the above described example, the host may continue this operation until the host identifies, within the elliptical perimeter 1110, at least one location for the gas station and one location for the grocery store.

An exemplary process 1300, such as that illustrated by FIG. 13, includes selecting a single location for each of the received first and second points of interest. Process 1300 begins with identifying a preliminary route as a starting solution that includes one location for the first point of interest and one location for the second point of interest (1310). The host chooses the first location appearing in each set of potential locations to identify the preliminary route. Once the host has identified the starting solution, the host calculates a travel commitment (e.g., a travel time and/or travel distance) associated with the preliminary route, and the host stores the preliminary route as the preferred route (1320). Then, the host identifies another route by altering the order in which the previously selected locations for each of the multiple points of interest are visited (1330). Additionally or alternatively, the host identifies another route by choosing from each set a different location for the first and/or second points of interest (1330). To determine the alternative routes, in one implementation, the host uses a pseudo-random process to change the order in which the locations associated with the first and second points of interest are visited and/or to randomly select a new location from each set of potential locations. The host calculates the travel commitment (e.g., travel time and/or travel distance) for the new route traveling through the rearranged locations and/or the newly identified locations (1340). The host compares the travel commitment of the new route to the travel commitment of the preferred route (1350). If improvement has occurred (e.g., the travel commitment is further minimized), the host stores the new route as the preferred route (1370), and the host moves on to check whether a time limitation has been reached (1380). If improvement has not occurred (1360, no), the host moves on to check whether a time limitation has been reached (1380). If so (1380, yes), the host displays the preferred route to the user as the advanced route.

Depending on the number of potential locations within each set, a process of selecting a single location from each set may be computationally demanding and may require lengthy computation time. As such, the use of the timer in operation block (1360) allows the user to identify an optimal route and/or a route close to being optimal within a reasonable time frame. The timer may begin to expire from the time the process starts and the user may set the length of expiration period. In this manner, an optimal route may be identified and presented to the user in a reasonable time.

If the time limitation has not been reach (1380, no), the host moves on to the next operational block to determine whether the travel commitment of the preferred route is less than a threshold (1390). The user and/or the host may set a threshold to identify routes with an acceptable travel commitment. In particular, if the preferred route has a travel commitment below the threshold amount (1390, yes), then the host stops searching for alternative routes and presents the preferred route to the user (1395). If the preferred route has a travel commitment exceeding the set threshold (1390, no), the host continues alternating the preferred route by rearranging the order in which the identified locations are visited and/or selecting a new location from the first or second set of potential locations (1330). The host continues these operations (e.g., 1330 to 1390) until a time limitation has been reached or until the host identifies a preferred route with an acceptable travel commitment.

In another implementation, the process 1300 may be modified to check for a relative improvement between consecutive alternative routes. For example, the host checks to determine whether relative improvement of the travel commitment between the last ten iterations is marginal. If so, the host stops the process 1300 and displays to the user the preferred route. To do so, the host stores in a table the travel commitment associated with each newly identified preferred route, and the host references the table after the host has identified a certain number of preferred routes (e.g., ten). The host then compares the travel commitment associated with the last identified preferred route with the travel commitment associated with the previously identified preferred route. If the improvement in the travel commitment is marginal, the host stops the process 1300 and displays the last identified preferred route to the user. Otherwise, the host continues the process 1300.

FIG. 14 illustrates a communication system 1400 is capable of delivering and exchanging data between a client device 1410 and a host 1430 through a delivery network 1420. The communication system 1400 enables the host 1430 to solicit or otherwise receive from the client device 1410 a search query and to generate a response to the search query.

Each of the client device 1410 and the host 1430 may be implemented by, for example, a general-purpose computer capable of responding to and executing instructions in a defined manner, a personal computer, a special-purpose computer, a workstation, a server, a device, a component, other equipment or some combination thereof capable of responding to and executing instructions. The client device 1410 may be configured to receive instructions from, for example, a software application, a program, a piece of code, a device, a computer, a computer system, or a combination thereof, which independently or collectively direct operations, as described herein. The instructions may be embodied permanently or temporarily in any type of machine, component, equipment, storage medium, or propagated signal that is capable of being delivered to the client device 1410 or the host 1430.

The client device 1410 may include one or more devices capable of accessing content on the host 1430. The client device 1410 may include a general-purpose computer (e.g., a personal computer (“PC”)) capable of responding to and executing instructions in a defined manner, a workstation, a notebook computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (“PDA”), a wireless phone, a component, other equipment, or some combination of these items that is capable of responding to and executing instructions.

In one implementation, the client device 1410 includes one or more information retrieval software applications (e.g., a browser, a mail application, an instant messaging client, an Internet service provider client, a media player, a mobile location based services client, a mobile mapping and/or navigation client, or AOL video or other integrated client) capable of receiving one or more data units. The information retrieval applications run on a general-purpose operating system and a hardware platform that includes a general-purpose processor and specialized hardware for graphics, communications and/or other capabilities. In another implementation, the client device 1410 includes a wireless telephone running a micro-browser application on a reduced operating system with general purpose and specialized hardware capable of operating in mobile environments.

In this implementation, the client device 1410 is configured to generate a search query that includes an origin location, a destination location, and an indication of multiple points of interest the user wishes to visit between the origin location and the destination location. The client device 1410 also is configured to display a result responsive to the search query. For example, the client device 1410 may be configured to display an advanced route between the origin location and the destination location that includes and thus encourages travel through a location of each of the user-specified multiple points of interest. The client device 1410 also may display a map and information regarding travel time and/or travel distance for the advanced route.

The network 1420 includes hardware and/or software capable of enabling direct or indirect communications between the client device 1410 and the host 1430. As such, the network 1420 includes a direct link between the client device 1110 and the host 1130, or it includes one or more networks or subnetworks between them (not shown). Each network or subnetwork includes, for example, a wired or wireless data pathway capable of carrying and receiving data. Examples of the delivery network include the Internet, the World Wide Web, a WAN (“Wide Area Network”), a LAN (“Local Area Network”), analog or digital wired and wireless telephone networks, radio, television, cable, satellite, and/or any other delivery mechanism for carrying data.

The host 1430 includes a general-purpose computer having a central processor unit (CPU), and memory/storage devices that store data and various programs such as an operating system and one or more application programs. Other examples of the host 1430 include a workstation, a server, a special purpose device or component, a broadcast system, other equipment, or some combination thereof capable of responding to and executing instructions in a defined manner.

The host 1430 includes a host operated by an Online Service Provider that provides mapping services to subscribers. Alternatively or additionally, the host 1430 includes a search provider and/or a mobile device, such as a cellular phone or an in-vehicle navigation system. The host 1430 is configured to receive a search query, including an origin location, a destination location, and an indication of multiple points of interest. In response, the host 1430 identifies a result that is responsive to the search query. To identify the result, the host 1430 may first identify a perimeter around the origin location and the destination location. The perimeter may include an elliptical shape. The host 1430 uses the perimeter to identify, within the perimeter, a set of locations corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest. The host 1430 selects, from the set of locations identified, a location corresponding to each of the multiple points of interest for which the set of locations was identified. The host 1430 identifies an advanced route between the origin location and the destination location that includes and thus encourages travel through a location for each of the multiple points of interest.

The host 1430 may be configured to provide mapping services to the user of the client device 1410. In one example, the host 1430 is configured to generate maps and information regarding travel time, and/or travel distance for the advanced route. The host 1430 may be configured to enable selection of different types of directions. For example, the host 1430 may be configured to enable turn-by-turn voice guided navigation, mapping directions, text directions, and/or “other” types of directions, such as walking directions or public transportation directions. The host 1430 may be configured to send this information to the user of the client device 1410 via an instant messenger service, an email, or directly to a client mobile/navigation application.

In one implementation, the client device 1410 alone may perform the functions described above. For example, the client device 1410 may perform the functions described above by referencing an internal search engine. In another implementation, the host 1430 alone may perform the functions described above. In yet another implementation, the client device 1410 and the host 1430 both may perform some or all of the functions described above.

Other implementations are also contemplated. For example, the host may identify multiple alternative routes responsive to the search query, and the host may use a different presentation style to present the multiple alternative routes to the user for consideration. For example, the multiple alternative routes may be presented to the user with each of the multiple points of interest color-coded to indicate the category of the point of interest. The alternative routes may be presented in sequence or on a single map so that the user may compare the routes and select the preferred route. In another example, the keywords or terms (e.g., the origin location, the destination location and the first and second points of interest) forming the query may each be received, at the host, from a different source.

In another example, the host searches, within a perimeter surrounding the origin location and the destination location, to identify multiple points of interest that are co-located. In particular and in keeping with the above-described example, where the user is searching for a gas station and a grocery store, the host uses a perimeter, such as the elliptical perimeter 1110 illustrated by FIG. 11, to identify a location for a gas station that is located near a location for a grocery store. To this end, the host identifies, within the elliptical perimeter 1110, all locations associated with the gas station and searches for a location for a grocery store within the vicinity of each of those locations. In this manner, the host identifies a set of co-located gas stations and grocery stores. The host then identities routes traveling through each of the identified co-located gas station and grocery store and determines the travel commitment (e.g., travel time or a travel distance) associated with each route. The host then compares the travel commitment of each route to identify an advance route having the minimum travel commitment and presents that to the user. Additionally, the host may compare the travel commitment associated with the advanced route with the travel commitment associated with an advanced route identified via, for example, processes 100 and 1000 illustrated by FIGS. 1 and 10, respectively, to determine the one including the least travel commitment and to present that to the user.

In another implementation, the user may not have a particular destination in mind and may wish to visit multiple points of interest. Thus, the user may generate a search query via, for example, a UI similar to the UI 200A in FIG. 2A that includes an origin location and a label for each of the multiple points of interest. In response, the host may identify at least one location for each of the multiple points of interest, and the host may identify an advanced route from the origin location through the location for each of the multiple points of interest.

In another implementation, the user may specify the order in which the multiple points of interest should be visited. In this scenario, the host identifies one or more locations for each of the multiple points of interest. The host identifies a preliminary route that travels through a location for each of the multiple points of interest in the user-specified order. The host determines the travel commitment for the preliminary route. The host may alter some or all of the locations for the multiple points of interest to identify a new route. The host determines the travel commitment for the new route and compares it to the travel commitment of the preliminary route. If there is an improvement, the host may use the new route as the advanced route. The host may continue this process until the relative improvement in each iteration is marginal. Alternatively, the host may continue this process until a time threshold for a route has been reached or a time limitation for computing a route has been reached.

In another implementation, the host may communicate with a calendar application or other applications used to help plan a user's day. For example, the user may have an appointment in the user's calendar to be at a particular location at a predetermined time (e.g., pick up a child at school at 4:00 pm), and the user may request a route that enables the user to stop at an ATM, a grocery store, and a gas station. The user may have previously specified this information in the calendar application and may communicate this information to the host via, for example, “clicking on” an export icon in the calendar application. Upon “clicking on” the export icon, a search query may be generated that includes the current location of the user, the destination location, and the multiple points of interest the user wants to visit along the way. The host identifies and presents to the user one or more routes responsive to the search query.

In one implementation, when a user selects to receive a route that passes through at least two points of interest, the concepts described herein consider whether several of the selected points of interest should be accommodated by a single diversion from a preliminary route otherwise extending between a selected origin and destination. By doing so, rather than simplistically selecting a first point of interest location and a second point of interest location that are the closest to the preliminary route, the described processes may determine to select one or more other point of interest locations if travel to them from another point of interest location is shorter than the distance between the preliminary route to the closest relevant point of interest location.

By way of example, assume that a user desires directions from Washington to Richmond and that the user also wants recommendations for where the user should stop for gas and pizza along the way. In one implementation, the user is allowed do the following serial computation: (1) identify a preliminary route between Washington and Richmond; (2) identify gas stations as a first points of interest, (3) identify all gas stations along the preliminary route, and (4) pick the gas station with the shortest travel distance from the preliminary route; (5) identify pizza places as the second point of interest; (6) identify all pizza places along the preliminary route, and (7) pick the pizza place with the shortest travel distance from the preliminary route; and finally, (8) display a route based on the preliminary route with stops at the gas station and pizza place independently determined closest thereto.

In another implementation, the concepts describes herein allow the user to evaluate combinations of selected points of interest, to account for different points of interest locations that may be close to each other. For example, along the way from Washington to Richmond, a gas station and a pizza place may be co-located at a particular exit, separated from each other by a short distance. In this scenario, the user does not have to separately travel from the route to each of the gas station and the pizza place. They instead may travel from the preliminary route to the gas station and from the gas station to the pizza place before ultimately returning to the preliminary route. Consequently, and in consideration of this scenario (and user behavior), the proposed process is able to identify the co-located pizza place as a more efficient selection than even a pizza place that itself is closer to the preliminary route. In fact, the proposed process is able to identify the combination of co-located gas station and pizza place as more efficient, even if neither is closest to the preliminary route among their respective peer point of interest locations.

To provide a more granular example, assume that the route from Washington to Richmond has a closest gas station at 1 mile from the route, and a closest pizza place at 2 miles from the route. A route that accounts for stops at those points of interest would add a collective 6 mile diversion, as a round-trip from each is needed. This would be inferior to a 5 mile diversion at, e.g., an exit that has a gas station that is located 2 miles from the route and a pizza place that is 2.5 miles from the route, but 0.5 miles away from the gas station. Notably, the user may benefit from having to divert once, and therefore, may prefer co-located points of interest, even if they do not actually reduce the diversion distance or travel time.

One example will be described to illustrate how the host may compare sets of locations associated with certain categories of points of interest selected by the user. In this example, the user seeks to visit multiple points of interest on a route between an origin location and a destination location. The multiple points of interest include a gas station and a grocery store. The host identifies a preliminary route, which begins at the origin location and continues to the destination location. The host then identifies an elliptical perimeter around the origin location and the destination location, and within the elliptical perimeter, the host identifies a set of locations for the gas station and a set of locations for the grocery store.

Along these lines, the host selects a location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the preliminary route from among the set of locations of gas stations. Additionally, the host selects two locations (e.g., a second location and a third location), from among the set of locations for the grocery store. In one example, the second location similar to the first location has a relatively short travel commitment from the preliminary route whereas a third location has a relatively short travel commitment from the first location.

If the travel commitment from the first to the third location is less than the travel commitment from the second to the preliminary route, the host would rank the combination of the first and third locations higher than the combination of the first and second.

Using the example, the host would first select a grocery store with a relatively short travel commitment from the preliminary route. Next the host would select two gas stations, one with a relatively short travel commitment to the grocery store and one with a relatively short travel commitment to the preliminary route. The host would then rank the particular combination of the grocery store and gas station higher that had a lower overall travel commitment.

FIGS. 15A-15B illustrates a process 1500 that a host may use to compare multiple intervening locations from selected categories of interests based upon the travel commitment required to visit a location from each of the categories of interest based on the above-described example. Process 1500 begins with receiving an indication of a selected origin and a selected destination (1505). The host may receive the origin and destination from a user interface, such as the one illustrated by FIG. 2A, in which the user manually inputs the desired address or location. Alternatively, the host may be connected to a GPS receiver and thus may determine an origin based upon the current location.

The process 1500 also includes the host receiving a selection of multiple points of interest (1510). In keeping with the above-described example, the user would select a grocery store and a gas station. To provide the host with the point of interest, the user may use a user interface, such as the one illustrated by FIG. 2A, which provides a user with various categories of locations. The multiple points of interest then could be given increasing levels of specification such as a grocery store that also includes a pharmacy section, for example. Based upon the user input, the host would increasingly refine the number of locations that meet the user requirements.

Based upon the received input, the host determines a preliminary route between the selected origin and destination locations (1515). The host could use a process such as the one identified earlier as exemplary process 100.

The host then identifies a perimeter surrounding the preliminary route (1520). The host could use an exemplary process 1200 to identify the perimeter. Using such a process, the host may need to expand the elliptical perimeter dependant on how great of specificity the user assigns to the points of interest. For example, an initial elliptical perimeter may contain more than one grocery store, but no health foods grocery stores that contain both a pharmacy and a cafeteria. Thus dependant on what level of specificity the user applies to his designation of grocery store, the host may need to expand the elliptical perimeter.

The host identifies, within the perimeter, a first set of locations that corresponds to the first of the received multiple points of interest, the first set of potential locations representing a subset of all potential locations corresponding to the first point of interest (1525). Thus the host would create a first subset of grocery stores that fall within the perimeter. The host could accomplish this through a process which first scans through a directory of all locations to determine all locations which meet the user-defined requirements. The host then could compare the coordinates and locations of each of the locations to determine which fall within the elliptical perimeter. The host then would create a new subset of locations to reference that would represent the first point of interest.

From among this first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest, the host identifies a first location that has a relatively short travel commitment (e.g., a travel time and/or travel distance) to the preliminary route (1530). For example, the host could determine this by calculating a route from the preliminary route to each of the locations within the subset of the first point of interest. Then for each of the routes, the host could determine the travel commitment from the location to the preliminary route. Based upon this computation, the host would select the location from within the subset of first points of interest with the shortest travel commitment.

The host then identifies, within the perimeter, a second set of locations corresponding to the second of the received multiple points of interest (1535). In the example, the host would create a second subset of all gas stations within the perimeter. The host could use a similar process to the one described in step 1525 to determine a second subset of locations which correspond to the second point of interest.

From among this second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest, the host identifies a second location that has a relatively short travel commitment (e.g., a travel time and/or travel distance) to the preliminary route (1540). The host could perform this process using a similar method as described in step 1530. The host calculates the travel commitment between the second location and the preliminary route (1545).

The host then determines whether a third location exists from among the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest that such a third location is separated from the first location by a travel commitment that is less than the travel commitment determined between the second location and the preliminary route (1550). The host could perform this by calculating the travel commitment from the first location of the first selected point of interest to a member of the subset of second locations for all of the locations within the subset of second locations. The host would thus look to see if a gas station exists for which the travel commitment between the grocery store and the gas station is smaller than the travel commitment between the initial gas station and the preliminary route.

If the third location is determined to be separated from the first location by a travel commitment that is less than the travel commitment determined between the second location and the preliminary route, the host then ranks the combination of the first and third locations higher than the first and second locations when generating the route (1555). The host could thus determine based upon the first selected point of interest whether a more optimal route would include traveling to the second selected point of interest from the first selected point of interest, or rather if it would represent a smaller travel commitment to return to the preliminary route before continuing on to the second selected point of interest.

The host may cycle through different combinations of the multiple points of interest and rank them accordingly. Using this sorting mechanism, the host may determine the optimal combination of intervening points of interest based upon the lowest total travel commitment. Such a method could include an internal default timer or even a user-defined timer so as to return a near-optimal result after a set length of time without cycling through all possible combinations of selected points of interest between the origin and the destination.

FIGS. 16A-16B illustrates a process 1600 that a host may use to compare multiple intervening locations from selected categories of interests based upon the travel commitment required to visit a location from each of the categories of interest based on the above-described example. Process 1600 begins with receiving an indication of a selected origin and a selected destination (1605). The host may receive the origin and destination from a user interface, such as the one included in FIG. 2A, in which the user manually inputs the desired address or location. Alternatively, the host could be connected to a GPS receiver and thus determine an origin based upon the current location.

The host then receives a selection of multiple points of interest (1610). In keeping with the example, the user would select a grocery store and a gas station. The host could receive the input based upon a user interface, such as the one in FIG. 2A, which provides a user with various categories of locations. The multiple points of interest then could be given increasing levels of specification such as grocery stores that also include pharmacies or health foods grocery stores. Based upon the user input, the host would increasingly refine the number of locations that meet the user requirements.

Based upon the input received, the host determines a preliminary route between the selected origin and destination locations (1615). The host could use a process such as the one identified earlier as exemplary process 100.

The host then identifies a perimeter surrounding the preliminary route (1620). The host could use an exemplary process 1200 to identify the perimeter. Using such a process, the host may need to expand the elliptical perimeter dependant on how great of specificity the user assigns to the points of interest. For example, an initial elliptical perimeter may contain more than one grocery store, but no health foods grocery stores that contain both a pharmacy and a cafeteria. Thus dependant on what level of specificity the user applies to his designation of grocery store, the host may need to expand the elliptical perimeter.

The host identifies, within the perimeter, a first location that corresponds to the first of the received multiple points of interest and a second location that corresponds to the second of the received multiple points of interest, where the first and second locations represent the locations which collectively yield a shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment from the preliminary route to the first location, from the first location to the second location, and back to the preliminary route (1625). Thus in the example, the host would identify a grocery store and a gas station within the perimeter that would provide for the shortest round-trip travel commitment for a driver deviating from the preliminary route to the grocery store, from the grocery store to the gas station, and then back to the preliminary route. The host could accomplish this by first creating a subset of grocery stores that fall within the perimeter. Through such a process, the host scans through a directory of all locations to determine all locations which meet the user-defined requirements. The host then could compare the coordinates and locations of each of the locations to determine which fall within the elliptical perimeter. The host then would create a new subset of locations to reference that would represent the first point of interest. The host could then repeat the process again for the second user-defined point of interest and create a second subset of the second point of interest that falls within the elliptical perimeter. After creating the subsets of the multiple points of interest, the host would then compare the travel commitments from the preliminary route to the first location, from the first location to the second location, and back to the preliminary route for all possible combinations of locations between the two subsets. The host would then return the combination of locations that yields the lowest possible travel commitment and store the value of the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment in memory.

Next, the host would again determine a route based upon the locations that were used to compute the shortest aggregated round-trip travel trip (1630). Based upon this route, the host would determine a first round-trip travel commitment between the preliminary route and a first location corresponding to a first received point of interest that has the shortest travel commitment to the preliminary route (1635). The host could achieve this by calculating the travel commitments from the preliminary route to the location for all of the locations within the subset of first selected points of interest. Using the example, the host would scan through all grocery stores which meet the user-defined requirements within the perimeter to determine which grocery store has the lowest travel commitment to the preliminary route.

The host would then determine a second round-trip travel commitment between the preliminary route and a second location corresponding to a second received point of interest that has the shortest travel commitment to the preliminary route (1640). The host could again achieve this by calculating the travel commitments from the preliminary route to the location for all of the locations within the subset of second selected points of interest. Using the example, the host would scan through all gas stations within the perimeter to determine which gas station has the lowest travel commitment to the preliminary route.

The host would then compare the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment with the summation of the first and second round-trip travel commitments (1645). Thus the host would compare the shortest aggregated round-trip travel obtained in step 1625 with the summation of the travel commitments to the first and second selected points of interest obtained in steps 1635 and 1640.

If the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment is the lesser, the host would select the route based on the locations that were used to compute the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment (1650). In the example, if the host determined that a lesser travel commitment was required for deviating from the route to the grocery store and then to the gas station before returning to the preliminary route, then the host would select this route and return it to the user.

If the summation of the first and second round-trip travel commitments is the lesser, however, then the host would select the route based on the locations used to determine the first and second round-trip travel commitment (1655). Thus if the host determined that a lesser travel commitment was required by deviating from the preliminary route to grocery store and then returning to the preliminary route before continuing on to the gas station, the host would select such a route and return it to the user.

FIG. 17A provides an exemplary map of a route between and origin and a destination with two intervening points of interest: a pizza parlor and a gas station. Using a process such as exemplary process 100, the host draws a preliminary route between a user-defined origin and destination. Then, the host draws an elliptical perimeter around the preliminary route using a process such as exemplary process 1200. The host then scans for pizza parlors and gas stations that fall within the boundary demarcated by the elliptical perimeter.

FIG. 17B provides an exemplary map of the route that the host would draw to the intervening points of interest similar to that in steps 1530 and 1545 of exemplary process 1500 or steps 1635 and 1640 of exemplary process 1600. In these steps, the host would determine two locations for the two selected points of interest with relatively short travel commitments to the preliminary route. Then the host would determine the travel commitment from each of the locations to the preliminary route. Using the example, the host would first determine a pizza parlor with a relatively short travel commitment to the route and a gas station with a relatively short travel commitment to the route and then determine the travel commitments for both.

FIG. 17C provides an exemplary map of the route that the host would draw to the intervening points of interest similar to that in steps 1550 and 1555 of exemplary process 1500 or step 1625 of exemplary process 1600. In these steps, the host would determine two locations for the two selected points of interest with relatively short aggregated travel commitments from the preliminary route to the first location, from the first location to the second location, and then from the second location back to the preliminary route. Then the host would determine the aggregated round-trip travel commitment for the two locations. Using the example, the host would first determine a pizza parlor and a gas station with a relatively short aggregated round-trip travel commitment from the route to the pizza parlor, from the pizza parlor to the gas station, and then from the gas station back to the route.

Other implementations are also contemplated. 

1. A computer-implemented method of evaluating locations to be included in a route that extends between a selected origin and a selected destination, and that passes through at least two additional locations corresponding to selected points of interest, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a selected origin; receiving an indication of a selected destination; receiving selection of multiple points of interest; determining a preliminary route between the selected origin and destination locations; identifying a first set of locations corresponding to a first of the multiple points of interest; identifying, from among the first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest, a first location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the preliminary route; identifying a second set of locations corresponding to a second of the multiple points of interest; identifying, from among the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest, a second location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the preliminary route; determining a travel commitment between the second location and the preliminary route; identifying, from among the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest, a third location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the first location; determining a travel commitment between the first location and the third location; determining whether the travel commitment determined between the first location and the third location is less than the travel commitment determined between the second location and the preliminary route; and if the travel commitment determined between the first location and the third location is determined to be less than the travel commitment determined between the second location and the preliminary route, ranking a combination of the first and third locations higher than the first and second locations when evaluating locations to be included in the route.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: identifying a perimeter surrounding the preliminary route, wherein identifying the first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest comprises identifying, within the perimeter, a first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest; and wherein identifying the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest comprises identifying, within the perimeter, a second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the perimeter includes an elliptical shape.
 4. The method of claim 2 further comprising determining an order in which the first point of interest or the second point interest are selected for purposes of identifying a set of locations, within the perimeter, for each based on which one of the first or second points of interest are least common point of interest.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest includes first randomly selecting the first point of interest from among the multiple points of interest and then identifying the first set of locations corresponding to the first point of interest.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest includes selecting the first point of interest based on presence or lack thereof of the first point of interest between the origin and destination locations and then identifying the first set of locations corresponding to the first point of interest.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the travel commitment includes travel time or a travel distance.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the travel commitment includes shortest travel time or shortest travel distance.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein the travel commitment includes travel distance along a road accessible to the preliminary route.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest includes first randomly selecting the second point of interest from among the multiple points of interest and then identifying the second set of locations corresponding to the second point of interest.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest includes selecting the second point of interest based on presence or lack thereof of the second point of interest between the origin and destination locations and then identifying the second set of locations corresponding to the second point of interest.
 12. A computer-implemented method of evaluating locations to be included in a route that extends between a selected origin and a selected destination, and that passes through at least two additional locations corresponding to selected points of interest, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a selected origin; receiving an indication of a selected destination; receiving selection of multiple points of interest; determining a preliminary route between the selected origin and destination locations; identifying a set of locations corresponding to a first and second of the multiple points of interest; identifying, from among the set of locations, a first location corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest and a second location corresponding to a second of the multiple points of interest, where the first location and second location collectively yield a shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment from the preliminary route to the first location, from the first location to the second location, and back to the preliminary route; and selecting a route based on the locations that were used to compute the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment.
 13. The method of claim 12 further comprising: identifying a perimeter surrounding the preliminary route; wherein identifying the set of locations corresponding to the first and second of the multiple points of interest comprises identifying, within the perimeter, a set of locations corresponding to the first and second of the multiple points of interest.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the perimeter includes an elliptical shape.
 15. The method of claim 12 wherein the travel commitment includes travel time or a travel distance.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the travel commitment includes shortest travel time or shortest travel distance.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein the travel commitment includes travel distance along a road accessible to the preliminary route.
 18. The method of claim 12 further comprising: determining a first round-trip travel commitment to/from a location corresponding to the first selected point of interest that has a shortest travel commitment to the preliminary route, among the locations corresponding to the first selected point of interest; determining a second round-trip travel commitment to/from a location corresponding to the second selected point of interest that has a shortest travel commitment to the preliminary route, among the locations corresponding to the second selected point of interest; determining whether the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment is greater or lesser than a summation of the first and second round-trip travel commitments; if lesser, select the route based on the locations that were used to compute the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment; and if greater, however, select the route based on the locations used to determine the first and second round-trip travel commitment.
 19. At least one computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising: receiving an indication of a selected origin; receiving an indication of a selected destination; receiving selection of multiple points of interest; determining a preliminary route between the selected origin and destination locations; identifying a first set of locations corresponding to a first of the multiple points of interest; identifying, from among the first set of locations corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest, a first location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the preliminary route; identifying a second set of locations corresponding to a second of the multiple points of interest; identifying, from among the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest, a second location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the preliminary route; determining a travel commitment between the second location and the preliminary route; identifying, from among the second set of locations corresponding to the second of the multiple points of interest, a third location that has a relatively short travel commitment to the first location; determining a travel commitment between the first location and the third location; determining whether the travel commitment determined between the first location and the third location is less than the travel commitment determined between the second location and the preliminary route; and if the travel commitment determined between the first location and the third location is determined to be less than the travel commitment determined between the second location and the preliminary route, ranking a combination of the first and third locations higher than the first and second locations when evaluating locations to be included in the route.
 20. At least one computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising: receiving an indication of a selected origin; receiving an indication of a selected destination; receiving selection of multiple points of interest; determining a preliminary route between the selected origin and destination locations; identifying a set of locations corresponding to a first and second of the multiple points of interest; identifying, from among the set of locations, a first location corresponding to the first of the multiple points of interest and a second location corresponding to a second of the multiple points of interest, where the first location and second location collectively yield a shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment from the preliminary route to the first location, from the first location to the second location, and back to the preliminary route; and selecting a route based on the locations that were used to compute the shortest aggregated round-trip travel commitment. 